Lawless Region
The former Democratic People's Sovereign Republic of Moldovania, now simply known as the Lawless Region, was a small nation in Eastern Europe. During the 1990s, it was swept into a bloody revolution that ended in the total collapse of all social order. The Fall Of Communism The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought extreme political changes and instability to the Second World nations that had formed the Communist bloc. Perhaps hit hardest by these was Moldovania, which for years had suffered under the yoke of a Soviet-sponsored dictator, Antonio Poenaru. He "boldly continued the honorable Communist government" by forcefully cracking down on protests against the poorly-executed system. Poenaru in many respects was a bully accustomed to power; he simply could not comprehend why people wanted him to step down and implement democratic reforms. The Cracks Begin To Form During a protest on June the 2nd, 1994, in the capital city of Secondrana, the Moldovanian Securitate (the secret police of the Communist Moldovanian government) began to use unreasonable force against the protesters. Simple shoves and pushes escalated into strikes, then finally the police troops advanced upon the protest and began viciously cracking down on it, beating civilians left and right. These protesters were imprisoned, 322 in all, for "subversive activity against the government". Two weeks later, they were mass-executed by a set of Moldovanian 40mm automatic anti-aircraft guns, and buried in mass-graves (at least, those bodies that hadn't directly taken a 40mm shell and exploded into mist). This was met by universal revile and hatred; many underground newspapers condemned the Securitate's actions, especially after an audit was conducted in Secondrana, uncovering many hidden presses and writers (whom were imprisoned and executed as routine). The people had had enough. On June the 18th, Poenaru walked up to the podium among a mass of citizens, and began his old speech; on the strength of the will, on the need to remain together under the Communist cause. However, he was cut off by angry yells and jeers from the proletarians assembled. His face of utter confusion was photographed and remains one of the most poignant scenes of the war. The War Begins Finally, Poenaru broke, and angrily shouted to the troops assembled. The Moldovanian Securitate soldiers turned their AKMs upon the crowd, opening fire. In seconds, dozens had been scythed down, and the crowd turned into a murderous mob. The riot swarmed over the panicked Securitate troops, and in seconds they had been beaten, some to death. Poenaru was pulled away by a Securitate agent just as newly-appropriated AKMs sprayed 7.62mm rounds into the podium, shattering the microphone and wooden desk. In a few days, despite the best efforts of the Securitate, the word had spread. Entire formations of Moldovanian military soldiers murdered their commissars and quietly joined the resistance, sick of their conscripted lives. In the middle of this, Resistance black-market contacts quietly imported several M16A1 manufacturing jigs and huge amounts of surplus rifles and ammunition into Moldovania, understanding that the weapons were used by the biggest bastion of freedom in the world, the United States (at least in their slightly-warped understanding). In the years to come, they would become one of the most common weapons found in Moldovania aside from the AKM, to the point of being simply called the "5.56mm rifle" to some. For ten long years, the Securitate and the remaining loyalist Moldovanian troops fought the Resistance to a standstill. The country was torn to shreds in the war, artillery guns churning cities to mulch and rubble. Finally, in 2004, the war ended- even the Securitate simply left their posts to try and survive on their own parts, and the government folded into itself. The Resistance fragmented and broke apart despite frantic attempts to keep it together, and the area once again fell into war. The Lawless Region Now, the Lawless Region is a dangerous place. Ran by battling warlords, bandit gangs, and in only nascent reconstruction, no country dares enter the Lawless Region in fear of being bogged down into a massive, brutal guerilla war. Attempts at restoring peace have proved a failure, as the one burning hatred that unifies the populace of the Lawless Region is of the "shining knights" of the West riding in to impose their ideals; to the jaded population, they are no better than Poenaru, and deserve to be shot just as well. Of note is the successful export even in the Lawless Region; warlords finance their battles on the black market, but some companies make it big on the internationals. Communist Weapon Systems, formed from a collective of Moldovanian party officials and factory staffers, is the most successful of these, building cheap and reliable firearms for the mass markets, with some "specialties" offered. Their sellings are practically everywhere; from the popular, dirt-cheap "Jihadist" (a nickname of their local-production, logo-stamped AK-47s commonly used by ISIS), to the high-tech CWS-CT05 compact assault rifle. Where they're embargoed, they simply sell on the black market, making it very difficult to stop them from performing their shipments. Recently, there have been plans to bring peace to the Lawless Region by multiple allied (to varying extents) special forces and PMCs. Communist Weapon Systems has released a statement indicating that they will not tolerate an invasion, and satellite imaging indicates they have ramped up the armament of their allied warlords.